BBC1's latest drama serial 'Ordinary Lies' launched last night, to great fanfare. With an all star cast including former Corrie actress Michelle Keegan and comedian Jason Manford, the Show looked promising.
It's been penned by Danny Brocklehurst (who wrote Clocking Off) and at face value this new series looked to be every bit as good, promising to focus on the lives of the characters who work in a second hand car showroom in Manchester.
Each episode will look at one character in particular and their story. The first episode centered around Jason Manford's portrayal of Marty, in trouble for constantly being late for work and on a final warning with his boss, played by Max Beesley.
So far so good. Marty oversleeps after a heavy night on the booze and knowing he faces the sack this time, rings the office and tells (to be quite frank) an unbelievably stupid lie - that his wife has died following a brain hemorrhage (she is in fact alive, and simply suffering from a stomach ailment)
His colleagues rally round as his lie spirals out of control. One of them, Grace, played by Rebecca Callard takes a shine to him and the two end up sleeping together. However, one colleague becomes suspicious and finds out the truth - she confronts Marty and he has to deal with the consequences. The episode ended on a cliffhanger and set up next week's installment.
The biggest surprise was just how good Jason Manford was - proving that comedians do make brilliant actors.
Despite the far fetched plotting and at times clunky dialogue, his performance was really very well done indeed.
The plot lines were problematical - it felt at times like there was far too much going on. Each character has their own story which needed to be set up, but the constant switching felt a bit too fast. The main story for this episode did feel very far fetched and unbelievable.
Sometimes the dialogue pointed towards this fact with occasional dramatic cliches being employed.
However, the series does feel like it's very worth sticking with (unlike BBC2's awful clunking effort 'Banished' which you can read about here: https://uk.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2015/03/should-banished-be-banished-00295433.html
Its lies were less than Ordinary, but it shows promise.
